In the context of software development and programming, inter-process communication (IPC) is a method of sharing data across multiple processes using messaging or communication protocols, where processes are instances of a computer program (e.g., an application) that is being executed. Typically, applications using IPC are categorized as associated with clients and servers, where the client requests data or information and the server responds to client requests. However, in some scenarios, communications involve both clients and servers, as commonly seen in distributed computing. Methods for IPC are often divided into categories which vary based on software requirements, such as performance and modularity requirements, and system parameters, such as network bandwidth and latency.
IPC provides several advantages. First, IPC can be used to share information between various applications or processes. An example would be implementing inter-process communication systems which share information among web servers to share web documents.
Additionally, IPC can facilitate the distribution of computing labor across different systems. For example, IPC can facilitate in servicing client requests by distributing the requests among multiple servers that communicate with each other. Similarly, IPC can be used to separate various layers of software execution based on different privileges or user roles in an organization. Such a structure can provide security and reduce the risk of attacks.
Mobile deep linking is a form of IPC that can be used to open or call an application (alternatively referred to herein as “app”) at a specific location within a different app. For example, a calling app can request a called app to perform some specific tasks on behalf of the calling app. As a result, using such a process, software developers can facilitate app to app communication.
However, mobile deep linking has a number of drawbacks and limitations. Specifically, deep linking requires the use of a uniform resource identifier (URI) that links to a specific location within a mobile application. These URIs contain all the required information to launch directly to a particular location within an app. However, because the deep linking mechanism uses uniform resource identifiers (URI), the length of the messages that can be exchanged is limited by the platform or app, with a large number of browsers and systems supporting only a maximum of 2000 characters.
Furthermore, when data in the URI is plain text, it is insecure from a data security perspective. Conversely, when the data in the URI is encrypted, it requires the apps to share keys/secrets for decryption. In many cases, the encoded result is longer than the original message, so this reduces the size of the message that can be sent given a maximum number of characters supported by the platform or app. In essence, there is a tradeoff between the size of the message or data capacity and the security of that message or data. An additional limitation is that the data in the message is limited to alpha-numeric characters (regardless of whether it is encrypted or not) as it has to conform to the URI specification.